Spotify and Copyright Issues: The Melissa Ferrick et al. vs Spotify Case

This document aims, in its first chapter, to analyze the world of intellectual property and the law that protects it. It does so by showing the history of the safeguard of the human intellect's creation, how it evolved throughout the centuries and how it had some differences depending on the law system of each country, it goes on with a description of the main concepts of copyright and of works protected by it and then it shows how such generic concepts have evolved and have been changed by the advent of the digital era. The thesis goes on with a second chapter were the main lines of the music industry are drawn. It starts with a brief description of the history of the music industry, showing where recorded music poses its origins and how and when it evolved. It then takes into account, more specifically, the digital revolution and the way it changed drastically the music world, focusing especially on the music streaming platforms. The last part of the second chapter focuses almost exclusively on the practical features of the music industry showing data and facts. The document is concluded by the third chapter which gives a real example of how new technologies can cause problems with the creative work's protection. It shows, then, a specific case which deals with copyright infringement from Spotify, the world's most popular streaming service, giving details about the events that caused this litigation and the way it ended.